


Things Henry Liked and Disliked About Age

by ThePrincessOfPirates



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: F/M, and because kissing, fun games with age gaps, teen and up because someone yells bad words out their car window, time progression stories, well not that fun...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 01:36:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4202997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePrincessOfPirates/pseuds/ThePrincessOfPirates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little things about age gaps that Henry found both exciting and frustrating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Henry Liked and Disliked About Age

Something that Henry would never admit to but always enjoyed, was the looks he got from people when he went out on dates with Abigail. When their age gap first started to widen to “mother and son” age, Abigail picked up the habit of responding to the statement of “Oh you brought your mother out to dinner, that's so sweet!” by kissing Henry full on the lips, leaving him to stutter out something along the lines of “She's not my mother, she's my wife.” He always liked the enthusiasm she put into those kisses, they were more fiery and defiant than her usual ones.

That was about the sixties and seventies. Something strange, and a little less cared for by Henry at least, started happening in the eighties. Abigail left him and after Abe pulled him out of his depressive decay, he spent more time with his son. Abe was the only part of his family he had left and they grew close over their grief. That wasn't the strange part though.

You see, Abraham and Henry, despite being father and son, looked nothing alike when they shared the same physical age. Abraham was adopted after all so there was no family resemblance for people to make the “we're brothers” assumption off of. Henry first started to notice something was wrong one night after he and Abe went out for drinks.

They were standing outside the bar, neither one really all that tipsy, and were talking about how they planned to move on with their lives without Abigail. Henry had hugged Abe and given him a kiss on the forehead; an average display of familial affection. Suddenly a car drove by with the windows rolled down, the passengers inside enjoying the crisper than average summer breeze. Someone shouted something out of the window of the jeep causing Henry to stiffen up and draw back in alarm.

“Did he just shout 'fags' at us? I'm not sure I understand...” Henry thought for a moment. “Did he mean the slang for cigarettes or... A bundle of kindling? I'm thoroughly confused.”

“It's a slang work for queer men...” Abe sighed, his shoulders slumped. He had known the day would come eventually.

“Queer as in different from the norm, like 'That's a queer looking outfit.'?” Henry asked.

“No queer as in gay. Henry, people think we're a homosexual couple!” Abe huffed.

“What?!” Henry looked appalled. “Oh that's just disgusting, I'm your father for heaven's sake!”

“Well it's hard for people to notice that,” Abe began. “We're two men who appear to be of the same age with no family resemblance who exchange more public displays of affection than most friends do. Henry I'm as grossed out by it as you, but you have to admit it has basis.”

“Oh wow...” Henry pinched the bridge of his nose. “From now on, I'm going to carry a paper sign saying 'He's my adopted brother.' to pull out every time someone looks at us oddly.”

Henry stayed true on that promise and printed out a sign for every one of his jackets, tucking them into his inside pocket. He used those signs on many occassions.

Going out to coffee.

“I'm sorry sir, but we don't serve gays here.” Sign.

Going out for drinks.

“Yo! The queer bar's on the other side of the street.” Sign.

Even when Abe was getting older than him, but still wasn't quite old enough to be his father.

“Hey, look a fag who dates older men.” Sign.

Henry prayed, for the first time in years, on the day he stopped having to use those signs. He still kept them around though, tucked into a few of his jackets, just in case people were still clinging to the whole gay theory. He never really thought of it much and honestly even forgot they were there.

“Hey, doc, this fell out of your jacket pocket...” Lucas turned the folded up paper over in his hands. “It's a folded piece of paper that says...” he opened it up. “It says 'He's my adopted brother.' Okay now this I have to hear the back story behind.”

“Oh those!” Henry chuckled. “I put them in my suit jacket pockets a while back but I forgot about them.”

“I didn't ask why they were in your jacket pocket, Henry,” Lucas replied. “I asked why they existed in the first place.”

“You really want to know?” Henry started to get up from his desk.

“Yes, absolutely.” Lucas answered.

“Back after my wife, Abigail left me, I had a close friend who really helped me through my pain,” Henry started, pacing around his office. “Back at that time, two young men with no physical resemblance who were a little more than averagely affectionate with each other, we hugged a lot, were always interpreted as a gay couple.”

“Why not have a sign that just said 'He's just my friend.' then?” Lucas questioned.

“Well it was a really hard time for me and I was very tactile back then,” Henry explained. “I don't think friendship could really explain how much physical contact we had...”

“Well I guess that is shorter than the truth.” Lucas shrugged and went back into the main lab to finish running tests on the most recent body.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly part of my inspiration on this came from Quantum Leap episode 4x11, The Play's The Thing where Sam's "character" and his girlfriend have a similar relationship. Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


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